We’ve discussed the Felco model 20 lopper before, but what is different about their model 29 loppers is that they’ve added a spray device to help control disease — especially those caused by bacteria and fungus. Every time you cut, a spray is directed at both the blade and the wound.

Felco doesn’t give much more information about their model 29 lopper, but it looks like the sprayer is a simple handle pressurized container. The sprayer container also looks like it has a belt clip so you can keep both hands free to use the pruning shears.

Unless you do a ton of pruning, you’ll probably want to stay with your modestly-priced loppers and can of disinfectant/sealer rather than pay almost $300 for Felco’s Solution.

Model 29 Lopper [Felco]
Model 29 Lopper [Felco Store]

There’s a scene in the film Battle of the Bulge where Telly Savalas siphons gas from a drum to fuel his Sherman tank and winds up spiting diesel. Every time I’ve ever siphoned anything I remember it and think to myself, there’s a real man. Me, I’m a big sissy; I’d use something like the Drill-Powered Pump from Northern tools.

Jack a drill into the side to crank up to 650 GPH through a standard garden hose up to fifty feet. The pump is 5 1/2 in. from inlet to outlet, 3 1/2 in. thick x 3 in. high and will require a few band clamps to fit to either end of the section of hose you’d like to use, but other than that just add a 3/8″ or 1/2″ drill.

For us, $5 -$10 is worth it not to have to suck down non-potable liquids the three or four times it would take to get a steady flow going — and we’re not as cool as Telly Savalas anyway.

Drill Powered Pump [Northern Tools]
Street Pricing [Google Products]

You’d think there wasn’t much more you could do to improve the trusty old round-point shovel, but Gemcor, maker of the One-Shot Shovel, thinks they’ve found a way. They start with a basic round-point shovel and give it wings — the “wings” provide extra carrying capacity and extra support for your foot when you step on the shovel, and the extra edges cut the ground quicker.

(more…)

Meteor’s Spark Doctor is yet another multi-tool, but this time they’ve specialized it for working with spark plugs. This multi-tool boasts eight different tools for removing, tuning, and cleaning your plugs.

As always, we’re skeptical about the number of tools a multi-tool packs — sometimes marketing departments like to be sneaky and claim a lanyard hole or carrying case as a tool or function. So let’s enumerate the tools, shall we?

• 5/8″ socket
• 3/4″ socket
• 13/16″ socket
• Brass brush
• Metal file
• Metal pick
• Gap gage
• Gapping tool

The metal file and metal pick are part of the same tool, kind of like the wire stripper is part of the flat screwdriver blade on Leatherman and Swiss Army Knives. If they can get away with it, why not Meteor? All these tools fold into a soft-grip handle.

The Spark Doctor can be had for less than $20 before somebody tries to gouge you with shipping.

Spark Doctor [Meteor]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Spark Doctor [Sears]

Today you can buy a mower with a guaranteed start on the first or second pull — a huge improvement over my old 10+ pull mower — but why does it still come with a cheap plastic T-handle which can be hard for some people to pull? If this bothers you, replace it with the Start-Me-Up handle from Meteor.

Available in red, green, or gray, the Start-Me-Up D-shaped plastic handle is covered in a soft-grip rubber material that’s more comfortable than a hard plastic T-handle. Included with the handle is 84″ of Duratuff starter rope in case you also need to replace the pull cord. Pricing for the handle starts at $7.

Start Me Up [Meteor]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

You could use a couple of hand stretchers to stretch chain link, but where’s the fun in that? Instead hook this A-frame fence stretcher from American Fence & Supply Co. onto the tension bar and then pull the stretcher with a Come-A-Long.

Use this 30″ stretcher for 4′ chain link fence. It runs $30, but unfortunately you’ll pay $25 in shipping charges. If you’re a Texan you also get hit with tax too.

A-Frame Stretcher [American Fence & Supply Co.]

It’s a verifiable fact that working with concrete sucks. The lifting and the mixing, followed by the pouring and smoothing, all while being rushed and worried that the mix isn’t right. I can’t think of much that’s physically more demanding and that has such a big potential for a hard-to-clean mess — which is why we tip our hats to reader Jmillerid and his new front stoop.

This had to be an afternoon of fun and adventure followed by copious amounts of Advil and a nap. In his caption Jmillerid tells us that this great-looking brick and concrete monster has 1,200 lbs of mixed and poured goodness in it. We cringe at the thought but will be the first to say that it looks absolutely great. Well done, sir.

Toolmonger Photo Pool [Flickr]

Pole-mounted loppers let you safely prune trees from the ground without having to work from a ladder, but most loppers are fixed on the pole in a way that only lets you cut branches that are relatively horizontal to the ground. While you can come at the branch at an angle, you’re never going to cut the branches sticking straight up. With Wolf-Garten’s adjustable angle loppers, the head swivels 180° to reach troublesome branches.

The loppers’ anvil cutters are operated with a 4-fold pulley mechanism. The mechanical advantage this gives you means you can prune longer with less effort. Wolf-Garten precision grinds the non-stick blades to give you thousands of clean cuts. The loppers can cut branches up to 40mm (1-1/2″) and they work with Wolf-Garten’s Vario handles, up to 5.7m (18.5′).

The loppers alone will run you at least $40 — then you’ll have to spend at least another $15 on one of their extension poles.

Tree Lopper [Wolf-Garten]
Street Pricing [Google Products]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

If you have an odd-shaped yard or certain plants that need more water than others, the Noodlehead Flexible Lawn and Garden Sprinkler allows you to point 12 “noodles” to precisely the right place for optimal watering. Product literature indicates that the three holes in each noodle give you six feet of coverage, up to 20 feet away, under normal water pressure. (more…)

Northern Tool offers this $30 propane torch kit for burning weeds and melting snow and ice. With a six-foot hose and a two-foot handle, you’ll need to figure out a way to haul around the (minimum) 20lb propane cylinder.

The torch kit has a manual igniter, so be sure to pick up a proper ignition source as well. Your cigarette lighter is not recommended.

The trick to getting these work right is to singe the weeds, boiling the moisture in the plant cells above ground to dehydrate the weed to a point of no return. It doesn’t take much to terminate — just a second or two — and you must absolutely be careful when using this in drier fields to prevent flare-ups.

In the winter, once you’ve melted all your snow, make sure to sweep the water off the driveway. Otherwise it’ll just end up refreezing, forming your new skate rink, which will amuse your kids but won’t make the 6:00 am departure for work any easier.

Propane Torch Kit [Northern Tool]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

The Eagle has landed — in your backyard. Well, okay, if you don’t believe the black sphere pictured above is spaceworthy, maybe you’d believe it’s a giant hamster ball for your dog? It turns out that it’s actually the ECOmposter, a compost bin.

The ECOmposter is constructed from recycled materials. The spherical shape maximizes the ratio of surface area to volume, which in layman’s terms means it’ll hold heat better. This shape, coupled with the dark color and the 16 integrated air tubes, helps the compost decompose faster, possibly even in as little as 4-6 weeks. The spherical shape also lets you roll the bin in any direction, mixing the compost more evenly. There are openings on both the top and bottom for adding or retrieving compost.

The ECOmposter comes with either a short plastic base or a taller tubular metal base with rollers that lets you rotate the ball in place. It looks like one of the best prices comes from Sam’s Club, where it’s just $150. If you’re not careful you could pay up to $300.

ECOmposter [Corporate Site]
Street Pricing [Google]
Via Amazon

Rather than get down on your hands and knees to remove leaves around your plantings and trellis work, pick up a steel adjustable-tine rake like this one from Bond Manufacturing. I used to dread cleaning out the garden every spring until a few years ago when I picked up a similar rake. It’s not something you use to rake the entire lawn, but the variable-size head lets you clean out areas where your normal rake won’t fit.

The head of this particular model expands from 7″ to 25″ wide and can be locked at any width in between. By contracting the head back down to 7″, you can store the 69″ rake in much less space than you would need for a full-sized one.

Shipping on this rake runs about $15, or you could probably pick up a knock-off for under $10 at a local store like I did.

Bond Manufacturing [Corporate Site]
Street Pricing [Google]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

The Gilmour Traveling Sprinkler is a cast iron, green-and-yellow model of the classic John Deere tractor. It follows the path you lay out with the water hose, covering up to 13,500 sq. ft. of lawn, and the manufacturer says its adjustable spray arms water at a diameter ranging from 15 to 55 ft. Gilmour also says the 2-speed traveler will follow up to 200 feet of hose before the sprinkler’s shutoff ramp automatically stops it and turns off the water.

User reviews at Amazon and at DrillSpot are a toss-up between one-star (hate it) and five-star (love it). Some folks say the sprinkler works especially well for odd-shaped yards and that kids get a kick out of it. Others complain that the gears strip themselves and the plastic internal parts fall apart right away. Are the Deere design and the cool factor of a self-propelling sprinkler enough to part with $70 – 100? Let us know in comments.

Traveling Sprinkler [Gilmour]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]
Street Pricing [Google]

The Fiskars Micro-Tip pruners are great for precision trimming jobs on small plants, flowers, and even vegetable gardens where a larger pruner would be unwieldy. The non-slip handles, blade cover, and blade lock also keep the sharp parts away from your soft parts. Looking at the 1-1/2″ blade, I can also imagine a host of uses in the shop where larger snips or cutters would be too big or clumsy for intricate cutting or trimming work – feel free to share your ideas in comments!

Street pricing runs about $10 from your local Home Depot.

Fiskars Micro-Tip Pruners [Home Depot]
Street Pricing [Google]
Via Amazon [What’s This?]

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls — gather ’round for the fight of the century. In this corner, weighing in at anywhere from 120cc to 190cc, depending on the situation, is the burly brawler, the buff bender, the big boss from Wauwatosa, Wisconsin: Briggs & Stratton! In this corner, weighing in at anywhere from 160cc to a monstrous 690cc is the heavy hitter, the hot hater, the hypnotic hustler from Alpharetta, Georgia: Honda! These two will duke it out to see which small engine reigns supreme…right after this commercial break.

(more…)

I always stare in wonder at folks who can manage to actually grow something in a garden.  It’s a mystery to me — always has been. I can work on motors or build furniture fine, but when it comes to keeping things green in an outdoor environment, the best I can do is let the weeds take over. Reader Fred does a little better than that. Here’s a great pic of his micro greenhouse experiment.

Gardening in Wisconsin, the land that global warming forgot. Trying to start pepper plants in peat pots. The problem is that these seeds need temperatures about 80 degrees to germinate. It’s 61 degrees two weeks into June.

So, we’ll plant ‘em anyway and put a clear plastic deli container over each one to act as a micro greenhouse.

Down here in Texas that would set the poor plant on fire if I did it. I’ve planted two things in my entire life that have grown. One is a cottonwood that thrives still in my father’s yard, and the other is a little oak tree that’s still clinging to life –- barely — in my front yard.  Best of luck to you and your peppers, sir.

Toolmonger Photo Pool [Flickr]

Can anybody tell us why you’d buy an 8-inch hatchet — what good is a hatchet this short?  You’re not going to get much of a swing with it, and you’re not really gaining much portability over a 14-inch hatchet.

(more…)